Flavours of Spain

When you come to live in another country, you really do not want to limit yourself to the food you already know from your country of origin. Elise and I come from Belgium (well, I come from Wales originally, but lived in Belgium for 35 years, so…). Belgium is a small country with a fine culinary tradition, offering plenty of variety, from sweet chocolate pralines to delightfully common stoofvlees met frieten, to more select plates that tempt even the most demanding of gourmets.

Now that we live in Spain, however, we like to try the local dishes, but this is not as easy at it sounds. Spain is a huge country and it isn't feasible for us to pop up to Asturias or Galicia, or across to Extremadura for an evening meal that includes the local specialities. We were therefore delighted to find a service offered by a company called GoodelitBox, which is advertised as offering gastronomic tourism.

The idea is that each month you receive a box of several specialities from a particular region of Spain, together with a booklet that explains what each product is and how it might be prepared. Each month a different region is selected, so that over the course of several months you can start to get an idea of the range of products available in the different parts of Spain. Great idea. Each box costs about 50 euro, but this can be reduced by ordering more than one box at a time. To start with, we have ordered three boxes, one each per month, which saves us about 10 euro. The price includes delivery.

Our first box arrived a few days ago, containing products from the region in which we live, Alicante. As you can see from the picture above, the box itself is pretty smart, being of hard cardboard, covered with a dark blue paper, which is embossed with a logo that incorporates a map of Spain.

Lifting the lid revealed that the products were well packed in straw. On top of the straw lay a GoodltBox business card, the booklet about the products, a packet of mojama de atún (best described as a tuna ham), and a packet of date-and-walnut cake:

Removing the layer of straw revealed the following items: a bottle of Vino Cap d'Or Moscatel Mistela D.O.P. (Muscatel wine with l'appellation d'origine contrôlée); a jar of pericana (a sauce made of dried tomatoes, pine nuts, and cod); a jar of spreadso de alcachofa natural y aceituna negra (a mixture of artichokes and black olives, used in all sorts of preparations); a jar of pomegranate jam (very difficult to find); a jar of turrodella (a turrón spread, also difficult to find); a bottle of 100% ecological virgin extra olive oil. Here you can see these products, still in the box:

A pretty good first box, I think you'll agree. Here's you can see all the important contents:

We shall start on this lot (the pomegranate jam and the turron spread shouldn't last very long!) and look forward to receiving our box of delights from Asturias next month.

If you'd like more information about GoodliteBox, visit their site here (you'll find a section in English, too). Note that they also provide a blog, where recipes can also be found (this part only in Castellano).

David Neale

Recipe: Ensalada Murciana

Serving suggestiion

One of the really pleasant aspects of living in another country, is being able to learn new foodstuffs or different ways to use those we are already used to. The area of the Mediterranean is known for its richer and more intense flavours than those we are used to in the north of Europe. The meat is excellent, the fish is abundant and fresh, and the fruits and vegetables are exceptional.

I enjoy cooking and I enjoy food. I like trying new ways of preparing meals. It’s all very well to eat something different in a restaurant, but here I hope to be able to persuade you to prepare something with a Mediterranean and Spanish flavour yourself. Even my husband likes this recipe, so it can’t be that bad.

Ensalada Murciana is a simple local salad. Note that, instead of fresh tomatoes, tinned tomatoes can be used (the Spanish sort, not the Italian) and that this is, indeed, more authentic.

Ingredients for two people:

• 1 hard boiled egg
• 3 red peppers (eg Freshona Gourmet Pepper, 650 g. from Lidl)
• 3 normal-sized tomatoes (or one tin, drained)
• 1 medium onion
• 220 g. tin of tuna in oil
• 12 or more black olives
• olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper

Method: cut peppers into strips; slice tomatoes; dice onion; drain tuna; chop egg. Place everything on a serving-dish: start with the tomatoes, on top of them the peppers and onions; crumble the tuna over the whole and then sprinkle the egg on top. Season with salt and pepper, vinegar and olive oil. Scatter the olives evenly over the surface. Cover and leave to rest for about an hour, after which time the enslada murciana is ready to be served, perhaps with bread and allioli.

This dish comes in as many varieties as places that serve it: cod is sometimes used instead of tuna, for example. It is normally served as a primer plato, or as a tapa.

Elise De Leeuw